Special Issue "Fractal and Fractional in Cement-based Materials"

A special issue of Fractal and Fractional (ISSN 2504-3110). This special issue belongs to the section "Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shengwen Tang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: monitoring hydration and microstructure of cement-based materials using non-destructive measurement; investigation of transportation property of cement-based materials; microstructure and durability analysis of cementitious materials; fractal analysis of porous media; electrical property of cement-based materials
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Giorgio Pia
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Chimica e dei Materiali, Universita` degli Studi di Cagliari, via Marengo 2, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Interests: nanostructured alloys; structural characterization; thermodynamic modelling
Dr. E Chen
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Concrete Structures, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Interests: chemo-mechanical coupled model for concrete durability; fractal dimensions of concrete pores; steel corrosion in fiber reinforced concrete; electrochemical measurement on steel corrosion; non-destructive measurement
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cement-based materials are the most widely used materials in the world, apart from water and air. Cement-based materials have played a vital role in the development of the national economy. The microstructural investigation of cement-based materials has always been receiving the widespread attention of global scientists and engineers. In recent years, the application of fractal theory in the microstructure of cement-based materials has brought a new perspective to some properties (such as rheology, permeability, diffusivity and thermal transportation) of cement-based materials.

This Special Issue aims at demonstrating the state of the art in fractal-based approaches implemented in cement-based materials. We invite you to submit comprehensive review papers and original articles. This issue will cover topics of interest that include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  1. Fractal characterization of construction materials from the viewpoint of multi-scales;
  2. Fractals combined with other theoretical, numerical and/or experimental methods, in the evaluation of mechanical performance/durability of cement-based materials;
  3. Fractal approach to study the evolution of pore structure of hydrating cement-based materials;
  4. Fractal approach to study the evolution of solid phase of hydrating cement-based materials;
  5. Other fractal-based approaches in construction materials.

Authors are welcome to contact the Guest Editor (Dr. Shengwen Tang) to discuss ideas and suggest topics of interest relating to this Special Issue.

Dr. Shengwen Tang
Prof. Dr. Giorgio Pia
Dr. E Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fractal and Fractional is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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Article
Influence of Different Alkali Sulfates on the Shrinkage, Hydration, Pore Structure, Fractal Dimension and Microstructure of Low-Heat Portland Cement, Medium-Heat Portland Cement and Ordinary Portland Cement
Fractal Fract. 2021, 5(3), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract5030079 - 27 Jul 2021
Viewed by 302
Abstract
In cement-based materials, alkalis mainly exist in the form of different alkali sulfates. In this study, the impacts of different alkali sulfates on the shrinkage, hydration, pore structure, fractal dimension and microstructure of low-heat Portland cement (LHPC), medium-heat Portland cement (MHPC) and ordinary [...] Read more.
In cement-based materials, alkalis mainly exist in the form of different alkali sulfates. In this study, the impacts of different alkali sulfates on the shrinkage, hydration, pore structure, fractal dimension and microstructure of low-heat Portland cement (LHPC), medium-heat Portland cement (MHPC) and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) are investigated. The results indicate that alkali sulfates magnify the autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage of cement-based materials with different mineral compositions, which are mainly related to different pore structures and hydration processes. LHPC has the lowest shrinkage. Otherwise, the effect of alkali sulfates on the autogenous shrinkage is more profound than that of drying shrinkage. Compared with the pore size distribution, the fractal dimension can better characterize the shrinkage properties of cement-based materials. It is noted that the contribution of K2SO4 (K alkali) to the promotion effect of shrinkage on cement-based materials is more significant than that of Na2SO4 (Na alkali), which cannot be ignored. The microstructure investigation of different cement-based materials by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) shows that this effect may be related to the different pore structures, crystal forms and morphologies of hydration products of cement-based materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fractal and Fractional in Cement-based Materials)
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Article
Utilizing Fractals for Modeling and 3D Printing of Porous Structures
Fractal Fract. 2021, 5(2), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract5020040 - 30 Apr 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1049
Abstract
Porous structures exhibiting randomly sized and distributed pores are required in biomedical applications (producing implants), materials science (developing cermet-based materials with desired properties), engineering applications (objects having controlled mass and energy transfer properties), and smart agriculture (devices for soilless cultivation). In most cases, [...] Read more.
Porous structures exhibiting randomly sized and distributed pores are required in biomedical applications (producing implants), materials science (developing cermet-based materials with desired properties), engineering applications (objects having controlled mass and energy transfer properties), and smart agriculture (devices for soilless cultivation). In most cases, a scaffold-based method is used to design porous structures. This approach fails to produce randomly sized and distributed pores, which is a pressing need as far as the aforementioned application areas are concerned. Thus, more effective porous structure design methods are required. This article presents how to utilize fractal geometry to model porous structures and then print them using 3D printing technology. A mathematical procedure was developed to create stochastic point clouds using the affine maps of a predefined Iterative Function Systems (IFS)-based fractal. In addition, a method is developed to modify a given IFS fractal-generated point cloud. The modification process controls the self-similarity levels of the fractal and ultimately results in a model of porous structure exhibiting randomly sized and distributed pores. The model can be transformed into a 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model using voxel-based modeling or other means for digitization and 3D printing. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated by transforming the Sierpinski Carpet (an IFS-based fractal) into 3D-printed porous structures with randomly sized and distributed pores. Other IFS-based fractals than the Sierpinski Carpet can be used to model and fabricate porous structures effectively. This issue remains open for further research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fractal and Fractional in Cement-based Materials)
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Review

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Review
Structure, Fractality, Mechanics and Durability of Calcium Silicate Hydrates
Fractal Fract. 2021, 5(2), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract5020047 - 17 May 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 630
Abstract
Cement-based materials are widely utilized in infrastructure. The main product of hydrated products of cement-based materials is calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gels that are considered as the binding phase of cement paste. C-S-H gels in Portland cement paste account for 60–70% of hydrated [...] Read more.
Cement-based materials are widely utilized in infrastructure. The main product of hydrated products of cement-based materials is calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gels that are considered as the binding phase of cement paste. C-S-H gels in Portland cement paste account for 60–70% of hydrated products by volume, which has profound influence on the mechanical properties and durability of cement-based materials. The preparation method of C-S-H gels has been well documented, but the quality of the prepared C-S-H affects experimental results; therefore, this review studies the preparation method of C-S-H under different conditions and materials. The progress related to C-S-H microstructure is explored from the theoretical and computational point of view. The fractality of C-S-H is discussed. An evaluation of the mechanical properties of C-S-H has also been included in this review. Finally, there is a discussion of the durability of C-S-H, with special reference to the carbonization and chloride/sulfate attacks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fractal and Fractional in Cement-based Materials)
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